Cut, Color, Kill | 4. Don’t Talk

The police make their move, with an audacious undercover operation. After, Fabio’s loved ones face a bombshell revelation. Want the full story? Binge every episode of Cut, Color, Kill ad-free now by subscribing to The Binge+. You’ll unlock over 60 true crime series instantly, get early access to drops on the first of every month, and hear exclusive bonus episodes. Search for the channel on Apple Podcasts or head to GetTheBinge.com. For behind-the-scenes details, join our free newsletter at Patreon.com/TheBinge. Cut, Color, Kill is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Novel. Follow @sonypodcasts and discover more at sonymusic.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices at podcastchoices.com/adchoices. The Binge — feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey Spotify listeners. When you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the Admirals Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of hearty bites and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi. Sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive. No matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at aa.com.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Listen to every episode of Cut, Color, Kill ad-free right now when you subscribe to The Binge. You'll hear the entire series before anyone else, get exclusive bonus episodes, and unlock more than 60 other true crime podcasts. Just head to The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and tap Subscribe, or visit getthebinge.com to listen wherever you are. The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  It's a sunny day in June 2017. At an intersection in the LA suburbs, a police car flashes its lights at a black Ford Mustang. The Mustang is Monica Semantili's new car. She's riding shotgun, looking polished as always, with her brown bangs and a sleek blowout. Robert Baker, her racquetball coach and secret lover, is at the wheel. The cops signal for Monica and Baker to pull over. The officer approaches the car, tells the couple they have reason to believe the Mustang may be a stolen car.

• 1:48Speaker 01

  Monica is sure there's been a mistake. The Mustang is hers. But the cop walks her and Baker over to another squad car waiting nearby. Until the police can get to the bottom of this, they'll have to wait in the back.

• 2:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm scared.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  The sun is beating down on the cop's car.

• 2:09Speaker 02

  Oh my god.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  Inside, it's like an oven.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  I can't breathe. I need help.

• 2:18Speaker 01

  Monica's struggling and complaining, but this isn't just an inconvenience. She has no idea what she stepped into.

• 2:27Speaker 01

  The police cruiser is wired up with three microphones and a camera. A surveillance van is parked around the corner. Inside, a team of officers are waiting and listening to every word.

• 2:37Speaker 02

  I will. This is ridiculous.

• 2:42Speaker 01

  The conversation is interrupted by the police radio.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  The cops run a message over the radio into the cruiser. The speaker is set loud. Monica and Baker can hear it clearly.

• 2:56Speaker 02

  Monica Semontilly, wanted for first degree murder for the murder of Fabio Semontilly.

• 3:04Speaker 01

  Monica Semontilly, wanted for the first degree murder of Fabio Semontilly.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  From Sony Music Entertainment and Novel, this is Cut, Color, Kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Episode four, Don't Talk.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  What the fuck? What the hell?

• 3:43Speaker 02

  Get me out of this car!

• 3:45Speaker 01

  Over in the surveillance van, the detectives are glued to every word. They're hoping that in the back of this hot, airless police cruiser, with radio messages being piped in, Monica and Baker are going to let slip something that will crack the case.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  Oh god. I gotta get out of here. Help me!

• 4:08Speaker 02

  I can't breathe!

• 4:11Speaker 01

  One of the police officers approaches the window of the police car. Monica demands to know what's going on.

• 4:17Speaker 03

  Ma'am?

• 4:17Speaker 02

  Yes, I heard everything. What is this?

• 4:19Speaker 03

  There's a warrant for your arrest for murder.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh, I just talked to the detective this morning!

• 4:24Speaker 03

  Okay, that's Detective, uh...

• 4:26Speaker 02

  Herschel!

• 4:27Speaker 03

  Herschel, okay. That, that came up, I, I gotta give him a call.

• 4:30Speaker 02

  Okay, please do!

• 4:32Speaker 03

  We're gonna have to get a...

• 4:33Speaker 02

  Oh my god, my husband was murdered five months ago!

• 4:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm, listen, I'm very sorry for the loss.

• 4:39Speaker 02

  How can this be?

• 4:40Speaker 03

  All I can tell you is, you've got a warrant for your arrest, and I'm gonna make a phone call right now.

• 4:44Speaker 02

  Oh my god, please!

• 4:49Speaker 01

  The officer steps away from the car. Monica and Baker are on their own again.

• 4:56Speaker 04

  Listen, listen, listen, listen.

• 4:58Speaker 02

  Don't talk.

• 4:58Speaker 04

  I know, I know, listen, listen.

• 5:00Speaker 02

  Don't talk.

• 5:00Speaker 04

  Listen, get, gotta get a lawyer.

• 5:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:02Speaker 04

  Immediately.

• 5:03Speaker 02

  I will, I don't know what's going on.

• 5:06Speaker 05

  Get a lawyer, don't talk, and a lot of that was coming from her.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman is in DC at a conference on the day of the arrest. She's eager to find out what's happening in the bugged patrol car.

• 5:20Speaker 05

  They both were playing this game where they were denying strongly that there was any sort of relationship between the two of them other than this racquetball league relationship that he was her coach.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  Silverman has been working with LAPD detectives since February, advising them on their investigation. After months of covert surveillance, subpoenas, and search warrants, the police are finally making their move. Today has been a long time in the planning. Every single thing that the two suspects say right now could be important evidence.

• 5:56Speaker 02

  I need to know what is going on right now. I can't breathe.

• 6:00Speaker 01

  While Monica panics, Robert Baker tries to explain what this arrest warrant means for them both.

• 6:07Speaker 04

  If they have a warrant,

• 6:10Speaker 04

  that means they have satisfied what they think are the

• 6:15Speaker 04

  elements of proof for this law. Whatever that is, I have no fucking clue what the fuck could be in there.

• 6:21Speaker 01

  Monica says that she's being set up.

• 6:24Speaker 02

  Someone is doing this to me, Dad?

• 6:31Speaker 01

  Then Baker and Monica begin to whisper. The cops and their surveillance van watch through a camera feed. It captures them on a flickering feed with a low-res image. It shows Baker and Monica, both leaning forward in huddled positions, sat very close to each other. The investigating team lean in and strain their ears to hear.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  They can just about make out certain words. And one line from Baker is especially telling. We've cleaned it up, so you can hear it.

• 7:04Speaker 01

  Stay in protocol. This is exactly what Deputy DA Silverman has been waiting for.

• 7:11Speaker 05

  The idea that they had planned for the eventuality that they might be arrested and how they were going to handle that was a tremendous piece of evidence that's referred to often as consciousness of guilt.

• 7:27Speaker 01

  It's pretty sketchy, right? I don't know about you, but I've never felt the need to make a plan for what to do if I get arrested for murder. Over in the police van, the cops lean in and try to catch more of what Monica and Baker are saying. But they're listening through the mic that's located at the front of the cruiser. They can barely hear them. In the back of the car are two more hidden mics, set up to capture their whispers with high clarity.

• 7:52Speaker 01

  The investigators in the van are getting excited. But too late. They find out there has been a mistake. Those high-spec mics on the back, which are crucial to the operation, were in fact not switched on and not in operation. Monica Semantili and Robert Baker continue to whisper, virtually unheard, for five minutes.

• 8:15Speaker 01

  When the news about the mics failing reaches Beth Silverman, she is not happy.

• 8:20Speaker 05

  You have two individuals who have just been arrested. You can see them and hear them in the vehicle plainly, discussing what's happening, whispering to each other. We catch certain words, but without having the entire context for it. I mean, we obviously know that we've lost crucial evidence that obviously was extremely damning. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been whispering. It was sloppy. It's the loss of evidence you can never get back.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  But the day isn't over yet, and the investigators still have another trick up their sleeve.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  The police officers transport Monica and Baker to Van Nuys Station in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. They're booked separately, and their phones are seized. Then, they're placed in separate holding cells.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Monica is left in her cell to wait for what comes next. But she's not alone. There's one other inmate already there.

• 9:17Speaker 02

  I'm Cynthia. Hi, I'm Monica.

• 9:21Speaker 02

  I know, this whole situation, it just sucks.

• 9:24Speaker 01

  While Monica is getting to know her cellmate, she has no idea that in some ways, her police interrogation has already begun. Cynthia is wearing a wire.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  What'd they do to you? My husband was murdered. Oh, my God. In January, yeah.

• 9:41Speaker 01

  Monica starts telling her chatty cellmate Cynthia all about what's happening to her.

• 9:46Speaker 02

  I'm in handcuffs in the back of a car, and then they said, "There's a warrant for murder." You murdered your husband? No, because I'm saying there's something wrong here. And it happened at your house? In the backyard. Wow.

• 9:59Speaker 01

  Cynthia is really curious, a little nosy even. But Monica doesn't seem to notice.

• 10:05Speaker 02

  I mean, if you weren't home, why'd you do it? But that's what I'm saying. I don't understand. They must have something they're not telling me, which I would love to know what it is.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  Monica has just stepped into what's called a Perkins operation.

• 10:16Speaker 05

  A Perkins operation is named after a particular case that allows us, after arrest but before the filing of charges, to place an arrestee into a jail cell with an undercover agent of the police and record their conversations.

• 10:39Speaker 01

  The mic'd-up police cruiser was only the first part of this operation, and Cynthia, the undercover agent, isn't the only person playing a role.

• 10:50Speaker 02

  Detective, what's going on? Please, tell me what's going on.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  Detective Jean Preshaw, the officer Monica has been in contact with since the murder, approaches the cell.

• 11:02Speaker 04

  Remember the two detectives I met with two weeks ago?

• 11:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:06Speaker 04

  And they came up with some stuff that links you to Farnia.

• 11:10Speaker 02

  I want to know what it is.

• 11:12Speaker 04

  They may be able to explain some of the stuff.

• 11:14Speaker 02

  I don't know, but I have to.

• 11:15Speaker 01

  Pershal is here to turn up the pressure.

• 11:19Speaker 04

  For sure, without a doubt, they have determined that Robert Baker was involved with Robert.

• 11:24Speaker 02

  That cannot be, that cannot be possible. Oh my God.

• 11:28Speaker 04

  There is no doubt about that, okay?

• 11:30Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 11:32Speaker 04

  Okay?

• 11:34Speaker 01

  So far, Monica and Robert Baker appear to have been sticking to a plan. But now they're separated and the police are directly accusing him of murder. Will Monica turn on her boyfriend?

• 11:55Speaker 00

  Hey Spotify listeners, when you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the Admirals Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of hearty bites and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi, sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive. No matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at aa.com.

• 12:21Speaker 00

  Cheers to fall savings at Whole Foods Market, home of higher ingredient standards. This Halloween, share chocolates and candies made without that spooky high fructose corn syrup. Throwing a party? Make it easy with a berry chantilly cake. Ready to cook pizza? No antibiotics ever chicken wings. And sushi made fresh daily. Fall gatherings never tasted better. Save through November 3rd at Whole Foods Market.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Who's that guy? Robert Baker's a good friend of ours. It can't be, it just can't be.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  Monica is alone with her curious cellmate Cynthia.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  He's such a good friend of ours. There's no way.

• 13:00Speaker 01

  She's still processing the bombshell Detective Pershal just dropped. Robert Baker is the prime suspect in her husband's murder.

• 13:08Speaker 02

  It can't be, it can't be him. He said without a doubt, it can't be.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  Cynthia probes Monica to see if she'll let anything slip.

• 13:16Speaker 05

  Was he your friend? Does he not like your husband?

• 13:18Speaker 02

  No, oh my gosh. No, he was, he's our lead director of our racquetball league at the gym. And he became a really good friend, especially after this. Really helped me and the girls.

• 13:31Speaker 01

  Cynthia even floats the idea that the racquetball coach might even have romantic feelings for Monica.

• 13:38Speaker 06

  You think that guy likes you and wants something else with you and you don't know it, maybe?

• 13:45Speaker 02

  I don't think so. Never felt that.

• 13:50Speaker 06

  Was your husband treating you bad? So maybe he was defending your honor or something, you think?

• 13:55Speaker 02

  No, my husband was the love of my life. He was such a good, good person.

• 14:01Speaker 01

  Monica doesn't bite, so the investigators turn the screw again.

• 14:07Speaker 02

  Hello?

• 14:08Speaker 04

  Monica.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  Yes, oh my gosh, yes, please tell me what's going on.

• 14:14Speaker 01

  This time, it's another detective, Chris Gable, from the robbery homicide division, who steps up to the cell.

• 14:20Speaker 04

  Just wanted to give you an idea, because I'm sure you have a thousand questions.

• 14:22Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 14:23Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 14:23Speaker 01

  He reminds her of the blood from the crime scene, which was sent for DNA testing.

• 14:29Speaker 04

  There was a lot of blood that was at the scene that day.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 14:32Speaker 04

  And you know there was a lot of swabs taken.

• 14:33Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 14:34Speaker 04

  Okay. So, a lot of that blood didn't, in fact, come back to Rob Baker.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  Oh my god, I can't believe that.

• 14:40Speaker 04

  And we've known that for a really long time, so I'm just...

• 14:44Speaker 02

  Oh my god.

• 14:45Speaker 04

  I just wanted to let you know that since way back now, we've had you under surveillance when you and Rob go to nightclubs.

• 14:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:52Speaker 04

  We've had you under surveillance when you do flyaway trips, driveway trips.

• 14:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:57Speaker 04

  And we've always had surveillance photographing you and documenting everything.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 15:02Speaker 04

  So we understand completely about the relationship that you and Rob have. And we know that his blood is all over the scene. And we've known that for a long time, and we've been watching it for a long time. We've been doing a lot of work on a lot of other things. I'm waiting for my partner to get down. As soon as he comes down, we'll explain more things together.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  I can't believe it, he can tell you more.

• 15:20Speaker 04

  Everything we did, it directly implicates you and Rob.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  This is impossible.

• 15:27Speaker 01

  After five months of letting Monica think she's pulled the wool over their eyes, the investigators have shown their hand. They know all about their affair. Rob's DNA was all over the crime scene, and both he and Monica are now implicated in the murder.

• 15:46Speaker 02

  Oh my god, there's all this blood in there.

• 15:53Speaker 01

  Oh my God. The investigators have been busy. They don't have access to Monica and Baker's phones, but they've managed to subpoena a huge amount of digital backup data. Things like iCloud, Dropbox, email accounts.

• 16:10Speaker 04

  We pulled all of your phones from your iCloud. There's a lot of them that I'm sure you really want people to see.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  There is a substantial stash of explicit photos that Monica sent to her lover. Some of them are even taken on the day of Fabio's funeral.

• 16:24Speaker 02

  Why does that have to do with the DNA being there?

• 16:28Speaker 04

  It doesn't have anything to do with the DNA. It has to do with you telling the truth.

• 16:33Speaker 01

  As Detective Gable gets more direct, Monica digs her heels in.

• 16:38Speaker 04

  We have a lot of evidence that shows us that you were involved in this crime. And that's what we want. I'm sure you have a lot of questions. And we want to answer those questions. We have questions for you. It's not about if you did it. It's just we want to understand why.

• 16:51Speaker 02

  Oh, this is all you can say?

• 16:52Speaker 04

  It's kind of just, please think about telling the truth.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  I am telling the truth. I need you to tell me the truth.

• 16:57Speaker 04

  Believe me, I will. I promise you, I'll be talking straight with you.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 17:01Speaker 04

  All right.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  Detective Gable leaves. Monica is still reeling from what she's just learned when Cynthia moves in again.

• 17:11Speaker 06

  So I guess he is your boyfriend, huh?

• 17:14Speaker 01

  Monica's on the back foot, but she's defensive. An affair isn't a crime.

• 17:19Speaker 06

  He said they've, like, they've been watching you, everything you do.

• 17:22Speaker 02

  But I already knew that because you know, when it's a murder investigation, everyone, the spouse is the first one to be followed. So I had no problem with him hiding anything. There's nothing wrong with what I'm doing.

• 17:36Speaker 06

  It is if he kills your husband.

• 17:40Speaker 06

  That makes for movies all the time. You've probably seen a couple of them, huh? At this point, you should be thinking about yourself, not whoever that guy is. But screw him. I mean.

• 17:56Speaker 01

  Cynthia is trying to get in Monica's head to see if she'll blame Baker or feel something about the crime.

• 18:04Speaker 06

  He did this. Make him responsible for it because I bet you he's not going to think twice about screwing you over.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  There's a long pause.

• 18:17Speaker 02

  What do you guys talk about?

• 18:20Speaker 02

  Everything. Well, not everything if he didn't tell you that he killed your husband.

• 18:27Speaker 02

  You're not trying to protect him, are you?

• 18:32Speaker 01

  Monica doesn't reply. She's subdued, even seems a little vulnerable. But by the time the detectives escort her out of her cell that evening and into a small, windowless interrogation room, she's back to defending her lover.

• 18:46Speaker 02

  I can't

• 18:49Speaker 02

  believe that, um, I don't believe that Rob did that.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Monica is sitting at a table. Opposite her are two detectives. She's being asked why Rob's blood was found at the house. And she's got an explanation.

• 19:04Speaker 02

  The only other thing I can think of that his DNA would be in my house is probably when I cracked him in the hand when we played racquetball. Um, it's probably on my racket, it's probably on my shoes, it's probably in the gym courts. And I brought the towel home. And I even showed it to my husband and he said, "Don't bother washing it. I will get rid of it." And that's the only thing I can think of for it to even be maybe in the garage, maybe in the sink if he put it in the sink because I didn't see it after that.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  For five months, the police have been speaking to her about the blood in the house. Monica never mentioned Baker. Now, when she's confronted with the evidence, she's changed her tune.

• 19:44Speaker 02

  That's all I can really, that I know. Okay.

• 19:51Speaker 01

  As the detectives drop her back off at her cell, they vent their frustrations.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  I mean, come on, Monica, how convenient is it for you to come up with the exact same story that your boyfriend told us about the towel? Remember?

• 20:04Speaker 02

  Are you doing that?

• 20:06Speaker 01

  Yes, he did.

• 20:06Speaker 02

  You remember?

• 20:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. In his police interview, Robert Baker told detectives the same story about the bloody towel.

• 20:14Speaker 01

  Despite all the police's best efforts, Monica and Baker seem to be holding fast to the protocol they discussed in the back of the cop car.

• 20:22Speaker 05

  It seemed like she and Baker had definitely discussed and planned for this eventuality.

• 20:29Speaker 01

  They haven't got a confession out of Monica, but for Deputy DA Beth Silverman, the Perkins operation with cellmate Cynthia was still eye-opening.

• 20:38Speaker 05

  Some of it was what she said and also what she didn't say. Her demeanor, the arrogance, just a complete lack of interest in what you would think somebody in her position, if she was innocent, would have been discussing, like, I wish LAPD was focusing on the real killers. A lot of that was interesting.

• 21:03Speaker 01

  Ever since Fabio's murder, the press have been all over this case. There have been helicopters hovering over Woodland Hills and reporters camped outside the Semantili house. But that's nothing compared to what's going to happen when news gets out that the victim's wife and her racquetball coach and ex-porn star boyfriend have been arrested. The detectives need to get ahead of this. Over in Toronto, Luigi Semantili's phone starts ringing.

• 21:32Speaker 03

  They told me that arrests had been made in connection with my dad's murder.

• 21:42Speaker 03

  Observe the North American dad. 50s, great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle, no one called him.

• 22:04Speaker 00

  Boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply. Hey Spotify listeners. When you travel with American Airlines, you'll enjoy comfort and convenience at every altitude. Before takeoff, unwind in the Admirals Club Lounge with curated self-serve offerings of hearty bites and refreshments. In flight, stay connected with high-speed Wi-Fi. Sponsored by AT&T. Your journey is designed to feel easy from the moment you check in to the moment you arrive. No matter where you're going, American gets you there. Book now at aa.com.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  It's nighttime in Toronto, and Luigi Simon Tilly has just been woken up by a phone call from the detectives. Finally, after five months, they have news. He's suddenly wide awake.

• 22:52Speaker 03

  I'm dying to hear what they know and what happened. And they tell me that Monica was arrested along with this man named Robert Baker. Arrests had been made towards getting to some form of justice for my dad, who was so haenously killed. But this person, who I considered part of my family, had betrayed everyone.

• 23:13Speaker 01

  I can't imagine what it must feel like to receive that news.

• 23:18Speaker 01

  Your own stepmother, someone you've grown up with since you were a little kid, has just been arrested for your father's murder.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  Luigi's mind is racing. He fires question after question at the detective.

• 23:33Speaker 03

  How certain are you? Give me a percentage. Where have you seen this before? What else do you know? How are you feeling about this as an investigator? And everything they were telling me was, from the day it happened, her story was not adding up. She was lying to the detectives. Things weren't making sense. They even used the phrase, "this is a slam dunk."

• 23:54Speaker 01

  The detective tells Luigi about Monica's affair and her obsession with the life insurance money. And Luigi finds himself thinking about the first time he spoke to Monica on the phone, the night his dad was murdered.

• 24:07Speaker 03

  She was kind of hyperventilating and between breaths. The first things that she said to me was that there was going to be a lot of money coming my way and that I would be able to buy a car and I would be able to buy a house. At the time, I suppose I thought, maybe in some strange way, this person is trying to mitigate this horror that happened in a weird way where our brains often do to try and protect ourselves.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  But now Luigi sees that moment as something else.

• 24:39Speaker 03

  Kind of a weirdly obvious dead giveaway.

• 24:44Speaker 03

  But it was such an unbelievable, astronomically impossible thing that she would have orchestrated this, that it didn't cross my mind at the time that I had that phone call with her.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Luigi starts to think back to the days after his dad's murder. He was in LA at his family's Woodland Hills home.

• 25:03Speaker 03

  It's pretty freaky going back to the place where he was killed. Weird that my stepmom and sisters were still sitting at this house. I remember on that trip, being brought up to the computer room and being shown a printed document detailing the different life insurances, estate proceeds, and how they would be divided up amongst myself, Monica, my sisters. She was kind of holding it and regarding it like she was petting this piece of paper in some strange, proud way. And it was that talented Mr. Ripley moment when you're starting to think about the preceding six months and how these little moments that at the time were not an indictment of anything, now that was a dot to be connected.

• 25:48Speaker 03

  It was like light bulb after light bulb, epiphany after epiphany.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  By the time the call with the detective ends, Luigi's made up his mind.

• 25:57Speaker 03

  In that moment, I thought, this makes sense. I don't doubt this. The first person I spoke to was my mom, and I went into her room and woke her up and said, you're not going to believe who

• 26:08Speaker 01

  Who just called me and what they just said.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  Over at the Wella offices in Los Angeles, Carol Porta is running a meeting with her team when CEO Sal's assistant Barbara knocks on the door.

• 26:23Speaker 02

  Sal needs to see you now. And we're like, we're in a meeting. We're, you know, kind of annoyed a little bit of why does he need to take us out of a meeting now? We'll be there as soon as possible. Five minutes pass and then Barbara is here again. It's like, you need to come right now. We're like, OK, that seems serious.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  Alicia Truesdale also gets a message at the same time.

• 26:47Speaker 02

  Says, come to Sal's office right now.

• 26:49Speaker 01

  Alicia was Fabio's executive assistant. Since his death, she's been worried that her job might get cut.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  Oh, no, this is it. They're getting rid of me. They don't need me anymore. I go over to the office and I walk in and Carol's there, Mika, the head of HR, Sal. And Mika says, sit her down. Sit her down right now. And I'm going like, what's going on? Sal puts on the TV and they show it.

• 27:18Speaker 01

  It's all over the news. CBS has the story.

• 27:21Speaker 02

  A stunning arrest nearly five months after a prominent hairstylist was murdered at his home.

• 27:27Speaker 00

  Monica Semantili under arrest now on suspicion of murdering her husband and being held without bail.

• 27:34Speaker 02

  She had been arrested in her muck shot and his muck shot. And we're like, what the hell? And then you're like, well, that's the guy that was at the memorial. I, I, I lost it. I screamed, I started crying. I couldn't handle, I couldn't hold it in. We were just dumbfounded. Like literally shop number two. I would have never, never in a million years imagined this.

• 28:04Speaker 01

  Melanie Garibay, another of Fabio's Wella crew, is in a different meeting when a friend texts her. I'm so sorry about Monica. I'm like, what? Are you sure? That's, that can't be.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  Fabio's work friends have spent months trying to support Monica. They thought she was devastated, but the details emerging from the police investigation tell a very different story. We saw the indictments and we saw what they were charging her with and we read all.

• 28:33Speaker 02

  All of this and we're like, wow, have we just been fooled? It felt like a sociopath in action. It didn't feel like a person we knew. It didn't feel like something that from the person we knew would have happened. So did something happen? Did she flip somewhere, you know? And then you start rethinking all of the things that you had thought before.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  There's the fact that Monica brought Robert Baker to Fabio's wake, the man she was having an affair with, the man whose blood was all over the crime scene. There's the weird fact of Monica continuing to live in the house where Fabio was murdered. And then, one moment, Carol can't stop replaying that time she and Melanie went over to the Woodland Hills house. Monica showed them her new Mustang. Carol remembers how Monica had gloated about playing the grieving widow to get a good deal.

• 29:28Speaker 02

  This phrase came back in my mind of the award winning performance. And I'm like, wow, indeed, that was an award winning performance.

• 29:38Speaker 01

  It's all adding up. And now disbelief begins to give way to anger.

• 29:44Speaker 02

  I said, that bitch. I can't believe why, what would, what was she doing, you know? And they show the whole arrest of her. I'm dumbfounded again. I'm just, I can't, I can't believe that this happened and that she did this. She's the one. You feel fully, fully, fully betrayed. Oh my God, like we are, we're clowns over here. We were played the entire time.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Thousands of miles away in Toronto, Luigi and Fabio, side of the Semitili family are gathered at his Aunt Morella's house. They're trying to make sense of this inconceivable news. How could she do this? How could this happen?

• 30:31Speaker 03

  Anger, betrayal. My family was around Monica far more often than I was, especially my Aunt Morella, who was quite close with Monica over the preceding 20 years.

• 30:43Speaker 01

  They all trusted Monica. But the police investigation has proven that she lied to them and to Fabio again and again. The woman they trusted doesn't exist.

• 30:56Speaker 03

  The prospect of this being the case wasn't met with much doubt. It was plausible, and we all believed it.

• 31:06Speaker 01

  For Luigi and his dad's side of the family in Canada, everything suddenly makes sense. What about your sisters? What kind of conversations did you all have?

• 31:15Speaker 03

  That's where the difficulty began in my relationship with them.

• 31:20Speaker 01

  Monica's daughters with Fabio, Jessica and Isabella, are still only 16 and 18. Now that Monica's been arrested, they've been taken under the wing of their mom's family, the Crescentinis.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  Monica's family was very quick to fly down and kind of take control of the situation surrounding my sisters. And the narrative, as it was being spun by Monica's family and then being accepted by them, was that this was not true, that a mistake had happened, that this is not the case, that they would be getting to the bottom of this one way or another.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Monica is maintaining her innocence, and Fabio's family, the thing that mattered most to him in the world, is split in two. But there's someone still out there who knows what really happened on January 23rd, 2017. There were two joggers caught on camera running towards Fabio's house that day.

• 32:15Speaker 01

  We reached out to Luigi's sisters and Monica's side of the family. They either declined to comment or did not respond.

• 32:23Speaker 01

  Next time on Cut, Color, Kill. There's still a missing suspect at large, and he holds the key to unlocking the truth. Did he just say he stabbed him? What? Is anyone hearing what I'm hearing?

• 33:00Speaker 03

  What's it take to be a mentor with big brothers, big sisters? It takes 30 minutes and a cup of coffee, a video game, best two out of three. It takes sharing thumbs up emojis, clapping emojis, and loaded nachos at halftime. That's how you make an impact on a young kid's life. So go on, share a few hours a month, because mentorship may sound huge, but the truth is, it takes little to be big. To learn more, volunteer or donate, go to bbignow.org.

• 33:31Speaker 01

  This is Cut, Color, Kill, an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Novel, hosted by me, Jonathan Hirsch. Our producers are Mohamed Ahmed and Caroline Thornham. Catherine Godfrey is our editor. Mark Pittman is our engineer. Additional engineering by Daniel Kempson. For Novel, our executive producer is Max O'Brien. From Sony Music Entertainment, our executive producers are Catherine St. Louis and me, Jonathan Hirsch. Production management from Cherie Houston, Joe Savage, and Charlotte Wolfe. Fact checking by Fendil Fulton. Research by Myron Kaplan. Story development by Nell Gray Andrews. Novel's director of development is Selena Metta.

• 34:13Speaker 01

  Special thanks to Carolyn Sher Levin at Miller, Korzynick, Raymond. And a big thanks to the whole Sony Music Entertainment team.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  It's getting chilly outside. But you know what that means?

• 34:57Speaker 01

  It's time to cozy up with Panera Bread. Let's get toasty, cheesy. Oh, hello broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. How about melty? Okay, Chipotle Chicken Avo Melt. It's dipping bread in soupy goodness season. Oh yeah, we're so back. It's Panera season. Order now.